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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27355453">before the otherness came</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RRHand/pseuds/RRHand'>RRHand</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternative Universe - The Conjuring, Badass Jim Hopper, Billy Hargrove &amp; Dustin Henderson friendship, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Demonic Possession, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Good Parent Joyce Byers, Harringrove, Hurt Billy Hargrove, M/M, Married Couple, Movie: The Conjuring (2013), Protective Billy Hargrove, Protective Steve Harrington, Psychic Steve Harrington, SO, Soft Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington &amp; Dustin Henderson Friendship, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington-centric, Steve calling Billy "Bill", Suicide Attempt, Supernatural Elements, The Conjuring AU, The Conjuring Fusion, set in the 80's, that's what this is</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:22:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,127</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27355453</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RRHand/pseuds/RRHand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This isn't the career path that they thought they would take, but now, years later and dozens of exocisms under their belt, Steve and Billy can say they are good at what they do. And they have to be, because the Byers need help and they're the only ones that can help them.</p><p>or where Billy is a badass, Steve sees demonical spirits and Hawkins still is a weird ass place to live.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>59</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>before the otherness came</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>HELLO! So, i wroked on this for a whole week and it turned out pretty good! Hope you enjoy this harringrove conjuring au!!! see u at the end!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Where should I begin?” Joyce Byers asks, earnestly, glancing between Bill and Steve. His husband usually conducts this part, the interview; Steve likes to pay attention to the family, to the house, to any spirits that he can feel or see. So he just gives her a sympathetic smile while Bill answers.</p><p>“Right from the beginning, Mrs. Byers, from where the paranormal occurrences started.”</p><p>Joyce breathes deeply, her clasped hands fidgeting on top of the table.</p><p>“Well, Johnny here started to notice it first,” she gives two little taps on the shoulder of the lanky, tall boy next to her. Johnathan looks like a younger, male and less tired version of Joyce. </p><p>“First were things moving in the house, like, if I left this,” she motions towards the decorational candle on the table, “here and wanted it the next day, it would show up in one of the bedrooms. Lights would flicker, the TV would turn on and off on its own accord, there was an awfully loud knocking around the house. That was the beginning. Then the things with Will started.” </p><p>Steve feels the temperature of the room drop and the lights dim a little. It isn’t much, but Bill is, too, trained to notice this kind of thing, so Steve watches as Bill takes his thick sweater off the back of his chair and gives it to Steve. He accepts it gladly, knowing that Bill runs hot enough to not need it, at least, inside the house.</p><p>“What started with Will?” Billy prompts.</p><p>Steve turns his head to the right, looking into the living room and at the little boy playing with legos on the floor. He also watches the swirl of shadows around the boy. Then Will raises his head and looks at Steve and the psychic swears the boy’s eyes are red, until he blinks and his eyes are brown again. </p><p>Steve looks away. He already knows what he needs to know; the demonic spirit is attached to the younger son and doesn’t seem all that willing to let him go.</p><p>“Will started to get teletransported around the house, then outside of the house, to the quarry at the end of our property. He started to levitate,” she visibly shivers and Jonathan puts an arm around her, rubbing soothingly on her back. “Then he would start saying weird stuff, and get in weird positions and his voice,” her voice breaks, but she carries on, “his voice would become all rough and loud but feminine, like a girl's voice, somehow.”</p><p>Johnathan picks it up for his mother when she stops talking. “And the house is always cold now, in the nights, and there’s this horrible smell. And Will,” he jerks his chin towards the living room. “When Will is fine, he is like he always was, but when he isn’t, he frightens everyone.”</p><p>“It’s true,” the county sheriff says over from his perch next to the sink. “I’ve seen the boy in one of his,” he pauses a bit, thinking in the best word. “episodes. He is downright scary.”</p><p>Steve and Bill exchange a look. This is a little more serious than they were expecting; the priest that talked to them suggested that this one might be a farce, so they decided to check it before calling Dustin. They might need to make that call right now.</p><p>“Okay,” Bill starts, asking Mrs. Byers, “and this started when you moved here?”</p><p>“Yes. Since my ex-husband left, me and the boys have been hoping from place to place until I got enough money to buy this house. We moved two months ago.”</p><p>“And this quarry you mentioned? It’s close to the house?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s less than 10 minutes from here, by the end of the property. It has a bit of a lake at the bottom and it’s a pretty big fall from the place we found Will the last time.” </p><p>“Alright, this is what we are going to do. This house needs a cleansing, maybe even an exorcism, depending on the spirit we’re dealing with here.”</p><p>Steve adds. “And it's a strong one. It’s connected to Will and it won’t let him go unless we make it.” </p><p>Jonathan gapes a bit. </p><p>“You can sense it, Mr. Hargrove?” </p><p>“Steve is fine, Johnathan, but yes, I can sense it and I can see it. That’s why I think it is so strong; weaker spirits can’t show a corporeal form, but stronger ones can show themselves through shadows or things like that.”  </p><p>Bill turns to him. “How strong are we talking about here?”</p><p>Steve just nods. “Strong.” Lord knows it’s more than enough for Bill to understand; he always knows what Steve is thinking, can always read between the lines Steve says. </p><p>	“Okay,” his focus goes back to the Byers. “Here the deal, though: the Church won’t do anything without definitive proof from us, so I’m going to call our associate and he’s going to bring our equipment and we’ll set it up in the house for a few days until we can catch something on tape or pictures that can get a priest in here. Is that good with you, Mrs. Byers?”</p><p>	Joyce looks close to tears, surprise and disbelief mixing in her face.</p><p>	“You’re going to help us?” Before Steve can assure her, she includes. “You believe in us?”</p><p>	Steve reaches across the table and holds one of her hands in his. “Of course we do, Mrs. Byers. And of course we are going to help you.”</p><p>Bill stretches his arm in the back of Steve’s chair. “Don’t you worry, Mrs. Byers. You got the right people in your house now, and we’re going to help you get rid of this.”</p><p>___________________</p><p>	“Do you mind if I sit with you, Will?” Steve asks from the entryway to the living room. </p><p>	The boy looks up from his complex lego construction on the floor. He’d been there, playing, like the 9-year-old that he is, since Joyce dismissed him and the adults sat down on the dinner table to talk, 2 hours ago. The dark shadows around him are still there, too.  </p><p>	“Sure, Mr. Hargrove. You want to play with me?” Will waves around a lego to put his point across, but Steve only smiles and sits on the ground on the opposite side of it, leaning against the sofa. </p><p>	“I think it’s better I don’t touch it. If you ask my husband, you’ll learn I have a history of being very clumsy.” </p><p>	The little boy laughs and Steve does not, at all, not even for a second, think about the adoption waiting list that they have been on for about two years. In cases, especially the ones where kids are haunted, Steve and Bill learned the hard way that it’s better to just not think about the child they don’t have yet.</p><p>	Steve winks, playfully, and asks. “What are you creating?” </p><p>	“It’s a Galaxy Commander! Mom gave it to me for my birthday. It’s my favorite set”</p><p>	“That is so cool! When was your birthday?” </p><p>	Will turns back to his creation and continues to fit the pieces together. “It’s in March.”
</p><p>	“Mine is in February. If it was in March, it was before you guys moved here?” </p><p>	Will nods. “Yeah, we were in Springfield on my birthday. We stayed there a few more months and then we moved here and that bad stuff started happening.”</p><p>Steve hums. Will is still looking at his half-assembled spaceship, but isn’t really paying attention to it anymore, only holding a yellow piece with enough strength in his tiny hand for his knuckles to get white. Steve can feel the sudden wave of panic and fear and doubt that takes over the kid and see the way the shadows grow darker.</p><p>“Your mom told us about the bad stuff. It’s okay, Will, we believe in you.” </p><p>But Will won’t look at him and the shadows only grow stronger. Steve would have to get the calvary.</p><p>“You know how these things work, Will? How do these evil spirits stay haunting houses?”</p><p>The boy shook his head. <em>No</em>.</p><p>“Well,” Steve said, in his most casual tone, as if he couldn’t see the ghost feeding on the child’s insecurity, “usually, they are born when someone really bad dies. Not all bad people, just those who are really, really bad and want to continue to do bad things. Or someone that has suffered a lot when they were alive and died with too much anger and hate in their heart. So they stay here, anchored in this world, without managing to be in peace and disrupting other people’s lives. Do you know how they say here, in this world, and never go to where they are supposed to go?”</p><p>Another shake. <em>No</em>.</p><p>“It’s because the more evil they do, the stronger they get. You see, Will,” Steve emphasizes his name and the boy finally looks up. “They stay here and they feed on people’s fear. On anxiety. On panic. When you feel like this, the way you’re feeling right now, it’s because it wants you to feel like this. Because, when you think you’re alone in all this situation, you make the spirit stronger.”</p><p>Will is looking at him wide-eyed and Steve sees the shadow recede a little, lighten a little. <em>Not today</em>, Steve thinks. He leans forward and holds one of Will’s hands.</p><p>“I want you to pay attention to me. Are you paying attention?” Will nodded, focused on Steve. “Everytime it tells you that no one believes in you, you think about me, okay? You think about your mom and your brother and the sheriff, because they all believe in you. And you think about me and Billy, because we came from another state to help you, because we believe in you. So, everytime that thing says that you’re alone and nobody believes in you and you’re going crazy, you say back <em>‘you’re a liar’</em> because all it wants is for you to be afraid, and you can’t be afraid if you have your family with you, right?”</p><p>“Right,” Will answers back in a murmur, but a small smile is breaking upon his face and the shadow is almost transparent. Steve knows that they will have to keep remembering Will of this and that it doesn’t really serve as a permanent solution, but, for now, it is enough. </p><p>“Knock knock.”</p><p>Steve lets Will’s hand go with a friendly smile, and looks over to the entrance of the living room, where his husband is watching him with a fond grin. </p><p>“I cannot believe you still say ‘<em>knock knock</em>’ when you knock on stuff, love,” Steve says, getting up. </p><p>“What?” Bill exclaims, fake-affronted, and approaches Steve. “How am I supposed to know if you heard me knock if I don’t say it? Right, Will?” Bill winks at the boy and he laughs.</p><p>“We can hear you, Billy,”</p><p>“See,” Steve circles his arms around Bill’s neck and his husbands’ hands end up on his waist. He raises his eyebrows mischievously, beaming at him. “We can hear you.”</p><p>“Alright, then, it seems I’m a minority in this matter. Anyway, I came here to tell you guys that we finished setting up all the cameras and the microphones and dinner is almost ready.”</p><p>“Go ahead, Will, we’ll be right behind you,” Steve says and, when the little boy runs out of the living room chanting for food, Steve kisses Bill’s breath away. </p><p>“Wow,” the blond says after Steve is done with him, “what was that for, dearest?”</p><p>He drops his head in Bill’s shoulder, sighing. </p><p>“This was a life-affirming kiss, love. I needed a bit of life in me.”</p><p>Bill chuckles into his hair and wiggles a little. “I can put a lot of life in you, if you’re in need.”</p><p>Steve giggles and extricates himself from Bill’s embrace. “Stop making sex jokes, there are children and demonic spirits in here!”  </p><p>But he doesn’t go very far before his husband is pulling him back into his arms and resting their forehead together. Bill puts a lock of Steve’s mane behind his ear and asks, tone serious.</p><p>“How bad is it, dearest?”</p><p>“It’s strong. I think it’s the ghost of someone diabolical, but it’s so powerful I’m not sure.” </p><p>Bill caresses his cheek, warm fingers against Steve’s cold skin, and smiles that gentle and charming smile of his that made Steve fall in love with him all those years ago.</p><p>“It’s okay, we’ll deal with it. We always do.”</p><p>Steve smiles back. “Yeah, we will. Let’s go eat and check on everybody.”</p><p>Dinner is a small but lively affair and so is the next day. With the relief of people actually believing and helping the Byers, the tense atmosphere of the house falls a few notches and soon everybody is laughing and joking around. That’s part of Steve and Bill’s job too - generally, they arrive in the middle or in the end of the oppression fase, when the spirit is beating down the family’s defenses and weakening its victim’s resolve, so there’s not much they can do, but they try. Little talks like the one Steve had with Will and a better, more happy family environment can go a long way in restoring the victim’s confidence. </p><p>So Steve and Bill run around, fixing stuff and helping in the clean up and cracking jokes and making themselves useful while they wait for the spirit to start acting up; so far, it’s been awfully quiet, what is, almost never, a good sign. Steve is proven right about that in their second night in the house. </p><p>It’s calm in that way that houses with people in it are calm - the boys are asleep, but Bill is in the kitchen with Joyce, trying to fix that leaky faucet and Steve, Dustin and Hopper - who stays the nights in the house with them - are in the dinner table, where their operation is assembled, chatting and killing time. </p><p>Then they hear the first noise. It's a loud, hollow bang, coming from the end of the hall where Will’s room is. Everybody stands still, waiting, expecting, until they hear it again and the Will’s door opens with a bang. All the people in the house know to not engage with any occurrences unless extremely necessary, so they just walk up to the hall to see Will, with red eyes very wide, walking about 10 inches from the floor.</p><p>He doesn’t seem to see anyone, just keeps on levitating, triggering all the cameras in the hallway and going for the front door. Steve looks beside him to see Dustin with their video camera on his shoulder and thanks for the boy's quick thinking. The red eyes won’t show up in the pictures, probably, but if they managed to film Will levitating, it’s going to be enough to get a priest in the house. </p><p>Bill, in the kitchen’s door, turns to Joyce. “Joyce, you stay here with Jonathan. You better wake him. We’re following Will and keeping him from getting hurt.”</p><p>Joyce looks a bit torn between protesting and trusting them to keep the little boy safe. </p><p>“Joyce,” Steve says, “we got Will. Go wake up your other son. Let’s go, guys.” </p><p>Steve is the first out of the door, running to catch up to the little boy, Bill hot on his heels. Will’s already at the back of the house, steadily going towards the dark wood behind the house. They stop a few steps behind him, not understanding why the spirit hasn’t acknowledged them at all, but wanting to keep things this way. It will be easier to try to protect Will if the spirit isn’t outright attacking them. </p><p>They enter the woods and Bill brings Steve closer to him, linking their fingers together. The only thing lighting their way is the flashlight Hopper is carrying with him, but the thin beam of light isn’t much; it serves to avoid any of them tripping in the many roots and small branches on the floor and to illuminate the eerie form of the youngest Byers, with his white pajamas, walking on thin air in the middle of the thick forest. </p><p>Steve doesn’t take his eyes off of Will and asks. “How many times did he do this, Hopper?”</p><p>“This is the fourth time. Each one of those, he was closer to the edge,” Hopper’s gruff voice answers from behind him. </p><p>Bill looks at him, his hand still in Steve’s. “We gotta watch out. We don’t know when the spirit is gonna make Will throw himself down.”</p><p>Steve nods; that’s exactly his fear. The spirit took him here three times already and did nothing, but maybe the fourth time's the charm.</p><p>It doesn’t take long before the trees start to clear out and the quarry gets visible. Almost immediately, though, Steve is pulling on Bill’s hand and pointing to where Will is obviously walking to, a long rock standing tall in the edge of the quarry. A great place to jump. </p><p>But Will stops before it. He stops by the beginning of the rock, in the fringe of the cliff, and starts to minutely sway in place and murmur something. </p><p>Then the boy turns around, still levitating, and focuses his red eyes on Steve.</p><p>“You,” he says with the old, ancient, feminine voice that Jonathan mentioned and that sends chills down his back, pointing at Steve. “Shall never reach me.” </p><p>Then he turns around and runs to the edge.</p><p>“No!” Steve is running too, faster than he should in such a dangerous place, but Bill is even quicker.</p><p>Will is almost at the verge of throwing himself down the precipice when Bill jumps and tackles the young boy to the ground. And it would all the fine, suicide averted, if they hadn’t slipped. Steve feels as if time is cracking around him; one moment Bill and Will are on the floor, near the edge, and another moment, Bill and Will are sliding and Bill’s hand on the rock is the only thing keeping them from falling into the darkness. </p><p>“Bill!” Steve screams, crashing on his knees on the ground, and holding Bill’s hand on both of his. “C’mon, hang on, love!” </p><p>Hopper is next to him, grabbing Bill’s hand and helping to pull. Pulling up and up and up until his husband is sitting next to him on the cold stone and not dangling to his death anymore. </p><p>A very frightened and confused brown-eyed Will is clinging to Bill when Steve throws his arms around him and clutches him, fisting the sweatshirt Bill is wearing. The blond rests his head on Steve’s chest and he doesn’t want to remember, but the only thing Steve can see is Bill falling over and over. </p><p>“Dearest,” Bill whispers, circling his free arm around Steve’s waist. “I’m fine, Stevie, I’m fine. We’re gonna be fine.” </p><p>Steve lets out a relieved sob. “Don’t you ever do any shit like that to me, you hear me? You almost killed me too.” </p><p>	“I’m sorry,” says a tiny voice from the bundle in Bill’s arms and the bubble around the couple breaks. </p><p>	“Oh, darling,” Steve frees one of his hands to brush Will’s disheveled hair back. “It’s okay, you did nothing wrong, everyone is fine.” </p><p>	“Guys, I think it’s time to go home,” Hopper says, getting up from the ground, where he was resting while Steve was having a mild breakdown. “We gotta check on you two, Will and Billy, and you, Steve, need a hot tea.” </p><p>	Bill snickers and Steve slaps his chest.</p><p>	“You got everything on camera, D?” Bill inquiries, still from the ground. </p><p>	“Yeah, don’t worry about it guys,” comes the answer. Dustin is a few steps back, not even close to the edge of the quarry, the camera secure in his shoulder. </p><p>	“Okay, up and up,” Steve says, getting up and bringing Bill with him too. Will doesn’t ask to be let down and Bill seems more comfortable having the little one in his arms. The blond looks at Steve and gives him a wink. </p><p>	“We survived another night!” He exclaims, merrily, and Hopper laughs behind him while Steve scowls.</p><p>	“Excuse me, I think I’ll need, at least, a day to deal with this before you start joking about your new near-death experience.” </p><p>	Bill smiles at Steve, big and unbearably fond. “Okay, I guess I’ll wait until tomorrow,” he answers and pulls Steve into his side, into his warmth.</p><p>	“Thank you for saving us, dearheart,” he murmurs in Steve’s hair and the brunette looks at him, smiling softly.</p><p>	“Always, love.”</p><p>	Jonathan and Joyce are sitting on the porch when they get back; they get up and start to run as soon as their group shows up. Will’s little sleepy body gets passed from Bill’s arms to Joyce’s and Jonathan almost crushes both of them with a hug.</p><p>	“Oh God, my baby, are you okay?” Joyce asks Will, who nods.</p><p>	“Yeah, Bill helped me. Can I go to sleep now?” </p><p>	Their ragtag group laughs and carries on to the house. Lord knows that Will deserves to sleep as much as he can - being possessed takes a toll on the body - and Bill could use a warm bath after some food. </p><p>Steve, as Hopper said, probably would make good use of a cup of tea. His hands are shaking still, even with one of them firmly around Bill’s waist and the other holding the hand his husband has on his shoulder. Coming down from an adrenaline peak is incredibly taxing. </p><p>Hopper, Steve and Bill sit down on the kitchen table while Dustin hooks up the camera to their equipment in the dining room and Joyce and Jonathan put Will down. </p><p>Steve and Bill have their chairs pretty close, more than they would be normally; the blond has his elbows on the table and his head on his hands, eyes closed, and Steve is hugging him sideways with his chin on Bill’s shoulder.</p><p>“You want me to heat up some food for you?” Steve asks through a yawn and Bill snorts.</p><p>“Don’t worry, dearheart, you’re tired too. Let’s just talk with Joyce and crash. We’ll eat in the morning.”</p><p>Steve yawns again. “Sounds good to me.”</p><p>“Hopper,” Bill calls for the other man, who is hanging at the kitchen window, smoking. He turns around with a puzzled face. “I didn’t thank you for saving us before. I don’t think Stevie alone would be strong enough to pull me and Will up. So thanks.”</p><p>Hopper shakes his head and gives what Steve guesses is a smile; it doesn’t seem like the older man is used to the action. </p><p>“Don’t worry about it, Billy. I mean, you two are the ones we should thank. You guys came from the other side of the country, brought your guy and all your stuff just to help the Byers. And,” he moves the hand with the cigarette around. “And not only helping, because I wanted to help too but there’s nothing I could do, but you know what to do and who to turn to and what to look for. Thank you two.” </p><p>“Well,” Steve answers, “someone has to help, right? And if that’s us, I’m just glad we can help.”</p><p>“Yeah, we can’t let the other option happen. We couldn’t sleep at night if we did.”</p><p>Hopper just grunts in response and they wait in silence for Joyce. She walks in a few minutes later with tear tracks in her face and swollen eyes. </p><p>“Sorry, guys, we needed a moment,” she says, moving around the kitchen, putting some water in a kettle and getting mugs for the three of them.</p><p>“You’re not gonna want it, right, Hop?” She asks and he winks, nodding. Shortly she’s putting mugs full of tea in front of them and settling down in a chair.</p><p>“What happened out there? Will couldn’t remember much, but you,” she gestures for Steve, “look like you’ve seen a ghost and you,” she motions for Bill, “look like you were rolling around on the ground. What happened?” </p><p>Bill and Hopper chuckle. Steve shakes his head. </p><p>“You’re so close to the truth you don’t even imagine, Joyce,” Bill says, sitting up and stretching a bit. </p><p>“They almost died out there,” Steve cuts his husband, not in the mood to levianity. Joyce widens her eyes and croacks out an <em>“how?”</em></p><p>“Yeah, huh,” Steve clears his throat and Bill puts his arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “Will walked slash levitated to the quarry and when he got on the edge of it, he turned and he pointed at me and said, with the old, womanly voice you guys mentioned, “<em>you shall never reach me</em>” and jumped.”</p><p>He takes a shaky breath, remembering the way Bill ran past him to hold Will and how he almost couldn’t catch Bill’s hand when they fell. </p><p>Steve carries on, the wobble in his own voice very perceptible in the silent kitchen. </p><p>“Billy managed to catch him before he went too far, but they slid and almost fell from the quarry. He grabbed the rock with one hand while holding Will with the other and Hopper and I pulled the two of them back up.” </p><p>Anyone could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. Joyce is crying again and Bill has buried his head in the crook of Steve’s neck somewhere along the story, breathing deep. </p><p>Steve sniffs. “Well, anyway, we managed to get them and Dustin recorded everything. We think, Joyce, that if we talk to a priest tomorrow, he can be doing the cleansing by tomorrow night.”</p><p>Joyce nods through her tears. “Okay. It’s almost 2 a.m., why don’t you two go to sleep and me, Hopper and Dustin stay until the morning.”</p><p>Bill lifts his head to protest. “It’s fine, Joyce, no need to worry about us.”</p><p>She smiles. “Billy, really, you look like you’re about to fall over and Steve is more asleep than he is awake. Take the guest room, the bed is already made.”</p><p>Steve and Bill exchange a look; a bed truly sounds wonderful after all that agitation. Bill turns a little in the chair, looking behind them to the dining table.</p><p>“Dustin, you okay with that?”</p><p>“Yeah, boss. Besides, I don’t think that anything else is gonna happen, but if it does, we’ll wake you two.”</p><p>“Alright then,” Steve says, getting up. “See you three in the morning. Wake us if anything happens.”</p><p>With a chorus of <em>good night</em>, Bill and Steve are off to the guest room and, in minutes, they are laying down and falling asleep. </p><p>___________________</p><p>	“<em>I work hard every day of my life, I work 'til I ache in my bones...</em>” Freddie Mercury’s voice fills the car, asking for somebody to love him.</p><p>	Bill is driving, drumming on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the song, while Steve has his eyes closed, resting a bit, and one of his hands in Bill’s thigh. </p><p>	“It’s tough, isn’t it?” Steve asks, eyes still closed. </p><p>	“<em>At the end, I take home my hard earned pay all on my own...”</em></p><p>	“Hey,” Bill answers, “I thought you were sleeping. What’s tough, dear?” </p><p>	Steve turns his head to the left and opens his eyes to look at the profile of his husband. He has been meaning to talk with Bill about this, but there weren't many moments of privacy in a house with 7 people in it. </p><p>	“Uh, nah, I was just resting,” he says. “And this thing with Will is tough.” </p><p>	Steve can feel Bill tense under his hand; he always feels more the hauntings with children, not only because of their nonexistent child, like Steve, but because of Maxine. </p><p>	Steve waits and Bill sighs. “Yeah, fuck, this thing with Will is tough,” he sniffs and bites his lips, taking a big breath. “He has the exact same age she did. 9 fucking years.” </p><p>	Steve brings his other hand around and rubs the blond’s arm, leaning down and dropping a kiss in his shoulder. </p><p>	“I know, love, I know. You wanna sit this one out?” he whispers against sweater-clad skin, but Bill only huffs.</p><p>“You know I can’t do that.”</p><p>“Of course, you absolutely can do that. If I asked to not be in the room of an exorcism, you wouldn’t think any less of me, so why would I think any less of you?” </p><p>“Oh, dearest,” Bill takes one of his from the steering wheel and puts on top the one in his thigh, squeezing. “I know you won’t think any less of me, but I need to be in there for the same reason you never asked to sit one out. I can’t leave you, in there, alone. If anything happens to you, or Will, for that matter, I won’t be able to forgive myself.”  </p><p>He squeezes Steve’s hand. </p><p>“I can’t lose you, Steve. I wouldn’t be able to survive losing you. So, I’d rather watch an exorcism that will probably bring some bad memories than to risk anything happening to you.”</p><p>Freddy continues to sing. “<em>Ooh somebody, ooh somebody, can anybody find me somebody to love?...</em>” </p><p>“Okay, love,” Steve sighs, accepting. His husband is right, there’s a reason for Steve to never quit an exorcism - how is he supposed to know if Bill is alright if Steve isn’t by his side? Last night was proof of how dangerous their lives can be in certain moments, so Steve understands Bill not feeling comfortable to be absent on such a critical occasion.</p><p>“But if you need to一”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Bill interrupts him with a small smile. “Are you ready, beloved? We're almost there.” </p><p>Steve sits back on his seat, looking outside the windows and notices the rural environment. It’s like they barely left Hawkins.</p><p>“Already? But I thought you said the Hawkins’ priest couldn’t do it?” He asks, confused.</p><p>“Well, he can’t, but I managed to convince Father Donahue to let us show the footage for the priest closest to us that could do it and let him decide.” </p><p>Steve snorts. “You smooth talker. Since when Father Donahue is so easily persuaded?”</p><p>“Since,” Bill’s tone becomes severe, “the Byers don’t have all that much time. He made an exception for us this one time, but we’re not supposed to “get used to ignoring procedure,” now he’s clearly mocking the always-stick-by-the-rules priest that is their connection in the Church, air-quoting with his right hand.</p><p>“Hum.  And we’re going to where?” </p><p>“We are going to Boone Groove, dearest,” Bill says, with the dumbest smile on his face. </p><p>“Boone Groove?” Steve is completely unimpressed. </p><p>“Uhum,” Bill is still beaming at him.</p><p>“And where is supposed to be ‘Boone Groove’?”</p><p>“We already are in Boone Groove.”
</p><p>“Oh, barf me out, are you kidding me?” Steve rolls his eyes and Bill cackles. It’s not that he hates small, rural towns, it’s just that he already had too much of them in his childhood and adolescence. Lord knows he is, at heart, a city boy - the less time he spends in hick towns with one single diner to go to at night, the better. </p><p>	“I thought we were going to Chicago, at least,” Steve whines some more just for good measure, but his husband just laughs harder. Steve pulls out his biggest weapon and starts pouting. </p><p>	“Awn, dearheart,” Bill coos, using his right hand to pull Steve against his side - good thing that country roads don’t have traffic. “Don’t be like that, think about the bright side! If we go to Boone Grove today instead of Chicagoー”</p><p>	“Which is obviously happening,” Steve intervenes.</p><p>	“As I was saying, instead of Chicago, we can be back in the Byers before nightfall, the priest can do what he has to do tonight and, most probably we’ll be going back home tomorrow!”</p><p>	“Uh, maybe that will be nice,” the brunette relents.</p><p>	“That is, if nothing happens and everybody comes out alive!” Bill says and Steve slaps, lightly, his chest again. </p><p>	“It’s not even 24 hours later, okay? Stop with the death jokes!” </p><p>	Bill laughs, open and bright, and the sound pulls a smile from Steve either way. </p><p>	“What is a priest with the ability to perform successful exorcisms is doing in a little chapel in the middle of nothing, huh?” Steve asks, vaguely curious, but his curiosity turns to suspicion with the sharp look Bill gives him, no more smiles.</p><p>	“All Donahue would tell me is that <em>something</em> happened and he wanted to have a quieter life in the countryside. Nothing else,” Bill answers, letting his mistrust extremely plain.</p><p>	Steve huffs. “Great, another one to look after. As if we don’t have enough problems already, Donahue sends us to a shady priest.”</p><p>	Steve narrows his eyes, looking straight ahead, and manages to see the little chapel appearing in the horizon.</p><p>	“It was that or going to Chicago and having to wait another 3 days to settle this.”</p><p>	“Yeah,” Steve sighs. “Let’s get this done with.”</p><p>___________________</p><p>	Priest Swanson is a short, thin and balding middle-age white man and Steve has never felt more uncomfortable around a priest like he is around him. He can’t get a read on the man, which upsets Steve greatly; he’s used to seeing, or, at least, feeling people’s general inclinations and using that to place himself accordingly. It’s easier this way for Bill and him to discover those who are faking and those who have ill-intentions.</p><p>	But he can’t get a read on Swanson and that, more than the suspicious reasons of his transfer from the big city and his overall slimy-looking aspect, is what gets all the bells ringing in his head. </p><p>	Bill, like the smart and sensible man that he is, caught on to Steve’s uncertainty and vexation early, when they were getting out of the car in front of the little chapel just to find Father Swanson sitting on the front steps with two bags and “<em>ready to go, we have no time to waste, gentlemen</em>”. The priest had no interest in watching the footage, claiming that the Hargrove’s reputation preceded them and that, if they claimed there’s a demonic spirit in the house, the minimum he could do is go take a look.</p><p>	From the outside, to people who aren’t used to dealing with priests and their protocols, it all looks fine - <em>what a nice little priest, huh, not needing proof to go check with the Byers </em>- but both of them know better. Exorcisms are difficult to perform and have terrible consequences if carried out on someone that is not possessed, so, as a rule, this kind of procedure needs to be allowed by the highest levels of the Church and requires footage of the occurences. </p><p>	This eagerness is unsettling, to say the least, in Steve’s professional opinion.  </p><p>	“And how long is it until Hawkins, Billy?” The priest asks, a light frown in his forehead. Bill had struck conversation with him as soon the man hopped on their backseat, 20 minutes ago, while Steve smiled when necessary and played absentminded spouse to Bill's quiet amusement. </p><p>If Steve’s sensing abilities are his way to study someone, Bill’s abilities to read someone through conversation and body language are his. He gets people interacting with him and everyone falls for his cocky charm like moths to a flame. </p><p>“Oh, close. It won’t take more than an hour for us to get there,” Bill waves the concern away. </p><p>If Steve can’t sense Swanson, he might as well join the conversation. </p><p>“You must understand, Father,” he starts, “the time sensitivity of the situation. The Byers spent almost two month on the infestation fase, but things are going at a much faster rate now.”</p><p>Billy complements, “The boy tried to throw himself off a cliff last night, while possessed. We don’t know exactly what happened and who is the spirit, but our collaborator stayed in the house to research; I’m confident he’ll have the house’s record by the time we’re back.”
</p><p>Swanson hums, looking curious and interested. Bill and Steve exchange a look; the man isn’t really helping himself with his reactions. Steve cringes internally. It doesn’t matter much if they don’t like the priest or if he seems shady, what matters is that he’s the one permitted by the Church to do this exorcism and, although Bill can do it, he isn’t allowed nor inclined to, so they don’t have many options.</p><p>Really, they only have one option that is letting Swanson do the exorcism and keep an eye on him. </p><p>“And the footage that you captured is of that?” Even Swanson’s voice annoys Steve. He knows he’s getting hyperfixated on the man and that Swanson didn’t do anything to warrant that much suspicion, but Steve isn’t imparcial and he also doesn’t care.</p><p>“Yeah,” Bill’s deep and familiar tone soothes a bit of the bother, “We caught him with red eyes, levitating and trying to throw himself.”</p><p>“And the age of the boy possessed?”</p><p>“Eleven.”</p><p>“And the mother’s?”</p><p>“What about her?”</p><p>“What is her age?”</p><p>“I have no idea how old Mrs. Byers.” </p><p>“And the boy’s brother’s?”</p><p>“I don’t know either, he’s a teenager.”</p><p>And the rest of the way to the Byers is much like this; Swanson questions everything there is to question about Will and his family, then starts an interrogation about Steve’s talent - which both Steve and Bill fend off - and how Bill came to be able to perform exorcisms - thing he shouldn’t even be aware of - and their home life, as if he’s an reporter and not just a noisy priest. Steve couldn’t be more thankful when they arrive at the Byers’ house. </p><p>“Oh, Father, thank you for coming to our aid!”</p><p>Joyce is the first to welcome them, with Jonathan and Will behind her, coming down the porch’s steps and meeting them as they get out of the car. </p><p>“You must be Mrs. Byers,” Swanson says, moving towards the three and letting Bill and Steve deal with his bags. “And these must be Jonathan and Will, am I right?”</p><p>Their group walks to the house and Steve and Bill move to join them, but, as they close the camaro’s trunk, Dustin shows up from the side of the house.</p><p>“Hey, Bosses!” </p><p>Steve frowns, turning to him. “Hi, D, what were you doing out there?”</p><p>“Doesn’t matter,” the young man beams at them. “I found out what happened. I know who is haunting Will.” </p><p>Bill punches the air, hooting, and Steve opens a pleased smile.</p><p>“Nice.” </p><p>“I know, Boss, I know,” Dustin shrugs and Steve rolls his eyes while Bill laughs.</p><p>“Out with it, boy,” Bill leans against the truck of the car and pulls Steve close to him, settling for a story.</p><p>	“Hey, I’m 26 already!” Dustin begins to pace animatedly. “Okay, so, okay, huh, you guys remember that when you left to pick the priest up I had a hunch, right? And I was right afterall. Over two hundred years ago there was a satanic cult in action here in the midwest andー”</p><p>	Bill interrupts him, “What you mean, in action?”</p><p>“Apparently, it means, abducting teen girls and sacrificing them to the Dark Lord. I went to the public library and they have a whole section, hidden, of course, I had to bribe, like, three librarians to get my hands on it, anyway, about this cult and wham bam, turns out they acted a lot in the state and, especifically, in Hawkins.”</p><p>He takes a big breath, points to the house and says what they are all thinking. “This house was used as a slaughterhouse. The newspapers from the time claim that all the girls from Indiana were sacrificed here.”</p><p>“That’s why Will’s voice sounds like a girl when he’s possessed, it is a girl. How many of them?” Steve asks, crossing his arms and feeling Bill pull him closer.</p><p>“About 13, but I don’t think the spirit that is haunting Will belongs to any of them.”</p><p>Dustin waits for them with raised eyebrows and an expectant face. Steve caves first. </p><p>“Alright, who do you think it belongs to, then?”</p><p>“I’m so glad you asked,” he starts and Bill rolls his eyes so hard that Steve is sure he saw his own brain. “I think that the spirit is of Olivia Stokes. She lived here in Hawkins, daughter of a very important man and, she isn’t counted as one of the cult’s victims, but they found her body in the end of the quarry less than a week after the cult left this house and got out of Indiana. She was 13 when she died.”</p><p>“Fuck,” Bill whispers and Steve lets out a deep sigh. </p><p>What is the only thing worse than dealing with a haunted child? Having to perform an exorcism of the spirit of a child that is haunting another child. </p><p>“Okay,” he sighs again. <em>Fuck</em>, indeed. Nothing like a case like this to bring old traumas to the surface. “It’s past 5, so we have less than two hours before the sunset, probably. We tell the priest this and hope for the best tonight.”</p><p>Bill winces, but Dustin looks interested. “How’s the priest, by the way?”</p><p>Steve shrugs. “He’s... I don’t know. If we had more time, we would go for another, but we don’t have it, so he’s gonna have to do.”</p><p>“That bad, huh?”</p><p>Bill intervenes. “He’s too fascinated by everything for my taste. Doesn’t seem to be considering this a serious or dangerous thing at all.”</p><p>“We’ll just keep a closer eye on him, right? Because the other option is Bill doing the exorcism and thー” Dustin asks. </p><p>“Yeah, not happening,” Bill shuts down the idea quickly. The only other time that Bill had to step in and do it Dustin wasn’t around, so he’s obsessed with the possibility of watching Bill do an exorcism, but the answer is always the same. <em>Not gonna happen</em>. </p><p>“Guys!” </p><p>The three of them turn to the house to see Jonathan on the door, looking at them. </p><p>“Mom wants to know if you guys want anything to eat.”</p><p>“Yeah, sure, Jonathan,” Steve says, herding the other two towards the house. Time to get back and face the music. “Sounds good.”</p><p>___________________</p><p>It’s not much of a lively night in the house, no matter how much Joyce and Father Swanson try. Mrs. Byers tries to pretend that nothing is actually happening, but with Swanson still asking supernatural questions to anyone that comes in a 5-feet radius of him, Bill and Steve’s presence and their equipment in the dinner table, it doesn’t really work. </p><p>Besides, there’s an air of anticipation in the house that doesn’t let anyone feign normality; everyone knows that the exorcism and, subsequent cleansing of the house, will happen tonight. They had explained to the Byers that, as soon as they put Will down to sleep, they have to leave the house with Dustin. No one knows what might happen, nor the extent of the damage that Olivia might try to impose on them - the less people on the house, the better. </p><p>What leaves Bill, Steve, Father Swanson and Hopper sitting, tense and in silence, around the kitchen table. Hopper came straight from work and, apparently, it was a rough day for the Sheriff, because he manages to shut Swanson up in the first five minutes by just being plain rude to the man. Steve isn’t feeling like peacekeeping and Bill is covering his laughter with his cup of coffee, so they just let Hopper and Swanson shoot daggers at each other, and focus on the sounds coming from the end of the hallway. </p><p>This night, it doesn’t take half the time that took the night before for them to hear the first noise. Before the clock strikes midnight, Will’s door is ripped from its hinges and they watch as it, with a loud sound, crashes into the wall on the other side of the hallway. </p><p>When Will’s little form shows up, they’re already ready; the priest has his Bible with him, Steve grabbed a chair and Hopper and Bill have the rope they’re going to use to keep the boy in it. </p><p>Like the night before, the spirit doesn’t acknowledge them as it starts to walk down the hallway. This time, Will isn’t levitading, but the bare feet don’t make a sound on the hardwood floor as he walks towards them with his eyes closed. If they didn’t know any better, he could pass as a sleepwalker. </p><p>Father Swanson moves to the living room, where they’re going to do the exorcism, while Steve, Bill and Hopper wait for Will to give just a couple more steps closer. Before he’s at arm’s length, though, Will opens his eyes and Steve feels himself freeze. They’re not red, they’re black. The pupils, the irises and, the worse, the scleras - there’s no more white in his eyes, it’s just a void. </p><p>He hears Hopper gasp next to him, but they stay. No one moves - Will isn’t in their reach yet and they don’t want to disturb Olivia’s spirit while she’s moving freely with Will’s body. But their plan doesn’t work.</p><p>Will lifts, slowly, his right arm, pointing at them, at Steve, like he did yesterday and when he screams, it’s with that horrifying, shrill voice. </p><p>“You,” Will takes another step towards them. “will <em>never</em> reach me!” And then the spirit crosses the space between them running and throws itself against Steve. </p><p>Steve falls to the ground with a shout, Will’s little body on top of him, biting, scratching and screaming and his heart stops for a second, from the shock, but then he’s waving his hands and trying to keep the boy away from him with little success. </p><p>It’s Bill who manages to grab Will and pull him off, kicking and screeching. He hugs the boy from behind, trapping his arms, and walks to the living room while Hopper catches the chair that Steve dropped. </p><p>Steve only gives himself a beat to recover from the oppressive energy he felt when Olivia’s spirit touched his skin, to recover from that one instant where he felt trapped in Hell with no possibility of escape. But Olivia’s voice is still shrieking in the other room and he won’t let his husband go through this alone, so Steve shrugs his nightmare’s off and scrambles to the living room. </p><p>Bill and Hopper have already managed to tie Will to the chair when Steve crosses the threshold and walks up to the blond’s side. Bill is sitting in one of the sofa’s arms, rubbing his ribs and with a mighty scratch down his left cheek. Hopper is on the other side of the room, closer to the priest and with his hand of his firearm. Father Swanson is in front of the chair where Will is, book in one hand and stretched in the boy’s direction, chanting in, what Steve imagines is, latin. </p><p>And god, Steve is used to the scenes an exorcism in a, seemingly, healthy person can be; the spirit tied up in a chair and in many variations of verbally trying to get out the situation - screaming, begging, bargaining - but he blanches everytime he has to witness one either way. Will is squirming and screaming, like a normal kid would, but with strength enough to shake the chair and so loud that Steve’s eardrums hurt. </p><p>“What?” Bill whispers next to him, looking puzzled. </p><p>“What what?” Steve whispers back without taking his eyes off the center of the room. He feels the oppressive force getting stronger, but that usually happens in the middle of the process; a last surge of demonic power to try to stop whoever is reciting.</p><p>Bill looks at Steve, appearing more and more distraught. “The words, the words he’s saying, I don’t recog一”</p><p>Bill is interrupted by Will, with Olivia’s otherworldly voice, yelling, “How dare you to demand this of me? How dare you, you oathbreaker? I will show you power!”</p><p>The furniture starts to shake and lift from the ground, throwing itself at the walls, and they can hear when all the cabinets in the kitchen open and the glasses start to shatter. Steve doesn’t know much, but knows that this is not the kind of response given by spirits in the process of being exorcised. </p><p>Bill springs to action, leaps to his feet and, two seconds later, is ripping the book out of Swanson’s hands.</p><p>“Hopper, we gotta get him away from here!” </p><p>Swanson is cursing and Hopper is grunting, but Steve doesn’t see it because he’s sprinting down the hallway into the guest room where he and Bill slept last night and desperately going through their bags, looking for Bill’s Bible. Steve will take the time to complain and declare that his husband’s messiness is becoming life-threatening later, because now he just dumps everything in Bill’s bag on the floor and seizes the little leather-bound book when he sees it peaking in the middle of the striped polos Bill doesn’t even use. </p><p>When Steve gets back to the living room, Will isn’t screaming anymore, nor is he swaying the chair; no, Olivia’s voice rings around the room as she laughs, sitting on the chair, which is levitating upside down. Hopper is holding his shotgun, Bill has the crucifix he wears as a necklace in his hands and Swanson is nowhere to be seen. Steve doesn’t have time to worry about the priest.</p><p>His husband is the first to notice that he’s back. “Steve! Thank God yo一”</p><p>Steve crosses the room, not paying attention to the flying chair and ignoring how intense and heavy the spirit’s oppressive energy feels after whatever Swanson did, and presses the Bible in Bill’s other hand. </p><p>“Love, you have to do it,” Steve hates to be the one forcing this, telling Bill that he has to do this one thing he never wants to do again. “I’m sorry, love, but you have to. You know you have to.”
</p><p>His husband looks heartbroken and dejected and grief-stricken, but one look in face tells Steve he doesn’t need convincing. Swanson is out of the picture after doing God knows what and they already pissed off an awfully powerful spirit, who only seems to get stronger by the minute - they have no other choice. </p><p>Bill takes a big breath and grabs the Bible. “Okay,” he says, “okay, yeah, I’ll do it.” </p><p>Before he can turn to Will, though, Steve tells him. “He is not Maxine. He isn’t your sister and he’s gonna be just fine.”
</p><p>He nods. “Yeah.” Glances at the levitating chair. “Yeah, he’s gonna be fine.”</p><p>Bill opens the book and, with the permanent ghost of Maxine in his mind, starts declaring the words that will send Olivia’s soul to eternal rest, whether she wants it or not.</p><p>Soon, Will is back to screaming and Steve knows this scene. Will is screaming, but the chair is back on the ground as Olivia weakens and the spirit’s trying to back away from the cross in Bill’s outstretched hand. </p><p>The oppressive force, the one that made Steve feel like he was in Hell less than ten minutes ago, diminishes and dwindles until there’s nothing. Will stops screaming and, as Bill gets closer to the end, his eyes go back to normal, black ink draining until brow eyes stare back at them. </p><p>	When Bill says the last word, everything is quiet. There’s nothing shaking, Will looks as if he’s sleeping, head dropped to his chest, and Hopper and Bill appear fine and, besides the scare, whole. </p><p>	“Shit, it worked?” Comes Hopper’s astonished question.</p><p>	“Yeah.” Bill is breathless and Steve has never felt more in love with him than he is at this moment, with Bill messy from a fight and out of breath from speaking a soul out of existence.</p><p>	And Steve feels lighter than he has ever felt since he set foot in this little house in Indiana. There’s no oppressive spirits and no shadows. There is also no Father Swanson. </p><p>“Fuck, what did you two do with the priest?” </p><p>Bill and Hopper look at him sharply, as if they had forgotten about the whole ‘<em>this priest is not doing the exorcism he should be doing but is apparently asking something from the very angry and very mighty demonic spirit’</em> thing that happened. </p><p>Hopper goes for the door, shotgun still firmly in his hands, and Bill pulls Steve into an embrace. Bill’s arms are hot around him and the crook of his neck feels like it was made for Steve to rest his head there. He winds up with one of his hand around Bill’s waist and the other where it always ends up, on top of Bill’s heart and Steve can imagine the steady <em>thump-thump</em>, proving that he’s here, that tonight wasn’t the night that Destiny was going to take Bill away the same fashion that It had given him. </p><p>“You fine, dearest?” </p><p>“Yeah,” Steve mouths against hot skin, “and you?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>Steve lifts his head to make a disbelieving face at him and Bill laughs, out and proud, soothing a bit of Steve’s worry. </p><p>“I mean, I’m gonna have some nightmares, probably, but I’m gonna be fine,” he winks at Steve. “As long as you’re by my side, I'll be fine.”</p><p>And Bill kisses Steve like Steve kissed him a couple of days ago, full of need and claiming <em>I’m alive, you’re alive, we’re alive</em>, <em>we’re gonna be fine.</em> </p><p>Until Hopper clears his throat from the hallway and scares them half to death again. He’s a mix between amused and sheepish, with the shotgun in one arm and a hand-cuffed Swanson in another. </p><p>“Sorry to bother the lovebirds, but what are we going to do with him?” He jerks his chin to Swanson, who has his chin high and is looking like he would very much like to create some more trouble. </p><p>Steve says, “You hand-cuffed him outside?” at the same time that Bill shrugs and remarks, “Man, that’s a problem for the Church.” </p><p>Hopper huffs out a laugh. “You guys should start making some calls, then.”</p><p>	“Yeah,” but Steve moves towards Will, who is softly snoring in the chair. Exorcisms are tiring. “Maybe put this little guy to bed first.” </p><p>	Bill helps him with the ropes. “Then the Byers, then Father Donahue and pray he doesn’t give us some more numbers to explain the situation.” </p><p>	Steve looks at his husband, all blue eyes, blond, curly hair askew and big, white smiles directed just for Steve, and he thinks again how lucky he is to have found someone like Bill, someone that understands, trusts and, unconditionally, loves him and he thinks that, even with demonic spirits, there’s no place he would rather be than here. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hope you enjoyed it! kudos and comments are super welcome! if you enjoy my work, please consider supporting me! see you guys next time!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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